Good Family Trips -- Vicksburg and Shiloh
By May 18th positions occupied north of Vicksburg allowed the Union to be resupplied from the river while watching for General Johnston to attempt an assault from the east. Grant ordered two assaults on Vicksburg before deciding that a siege would be necessary one on May 18th and a second on May 22nd. The Union losses were heavy and Grant decided " to out camp them." The siege went on for 47 days the number of steps on the Illinois Memorial. Gen. Johnston never mounted a counter attack, and Vicksburg became less able to defend, as food ran out. On July 3rd Confederate General Pemberton asked for terms, Grant would not offer terms. On July 4th Pemberton surrended Vicksburg and the starving garrison of 31,000 was paroled.
Painting by Mort Kunstler great prints, expensive.
Sherman's corps left and returned to meet and defeat Gen. Johnston again in Jackson, MS. This is one of the great campaigns of the Civil War. It ended any chance of the Confederacy being united. After 1863 only small numbers of men or supplies could slip across the Mississippi. The war continued with great loss and devastation for almost two full years. On July 4th, 1863 General Lee had failed to achieve a victory in the North, and the Confederate states were permanently divided.
Vicksburg Courthouse Museum
Jefferson Davis was from Vicksburg and at his Brierfield plantation when notified he had become the Confederate president.
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